My son is in second grade attending a Montessouri school since last year. I thought that putting him into a Montessouri school would be the best option since he is bright, easily bored and very hands on. But now i'm faced with the decision of whether or not I should take him out and if I do which is the next best option, Public School or Private School.

Last week I had a parent teacher conference where she informed me that my son went from being 90% in math and 60% in reading in the standardized tests to 10% on both areas. She couldn't really explain why he had such a huge drop nor why she had waited an entire month to let me know this was happening. I'm thoroughly pissed that she waited so long but I held my cool and asked what she recommended I could do with my son in order to help him succeed. My son says he is bored and seems to be quite crabby everytime he comes home from school. I have just been attributing it to the fact that he was just tired from working so hard. I know my son is smart and can do quite a bit when we are at home. Both years have been quite the struggle with this school and I don't know if saying enough is the right thing to do.

I guess what I'm wondering is if I should take him out of his school so he doesn't get further and further behind or should I help him more at home so that he can succeed hopefully during the next tests in January. I know that Montessouri is for some people and not for others and my very strict parenting style probably makes it harder b/c at home there is lots of discipline and at school there isn't. Do you think he needs to go into a more structured environment? I'm at such a loss right now and my mother is trying to get me to send him to a Catholic school which I would barely be able to afford. What do you think?

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i personally attended a Catholic Private School from pre-K to 6th grade. it became a little too much for parents to handle being that there was 3 of us. for middle school 7th and 8th grade we attended a public school. i saw a huge difference in the curriculum. i was so bored, i thought it was a joke. i felt like i was reviewing what i already knew. i was in AP classes and continued with them through high school. what i was taught in private school, as far as keeping up with in class work and homework, i carried over into public school. but the major thing that helped a lot was the fact that my mom ALWAYS sat down with us and made sure all our work was done before we could do anything else. she kept a very tight after school schedule for all 3 of us.

*i'm in no way bashing the public school system. i'm just simply sharing my own experience.

It depends on the public schools in your area. Some have great advanced studies programs. Go interview a few schools before you make a decision. Public schools seem to have a better variety of courses to accommodate different children than a private school would. And I grew up in private schools

finances are a huge issue for me so I'd probably try switching him to public school to see if it piques his interest in learning again (i know our school has mad scientists and other outside groups come in sometimes to get the kids excited about certain topics) and then look into their advanced placement/gifted talented/vanguard programs. Could be worth a try.

It depends on the public schools in your area. Some have great advanced studies programs. Go interview a few schools before you make a decision. Public schools seem to have a better variety of courses to accommodate different children than a private school would. And I grew up in private schools

I would go into it with an open mind and check out each of the different options and make a list with the pros and cons of each. Do the public schools in your area offer advanced classes or programs for certain subjects that kids who are more advanced in those areas can get challenged? Good luck!

Yes! Definitely look into G/T programs & magnet academic schools. I was brought up in BOTH systems.

Quoting adulation:

finances are a huge issue for me so I'd probably try switching him to public school to see if it piques his interest in learning again (i know our school has mad scientists and other outside groups come in sometimes to get the kids excited about certain topics) and then look into their advanced placement/gifted talented/vanguard programs. Could be worth a try.